It was rather remarkable to note the lack of fanfare and buildup to last night’s Academy Awards broadcast. The usual hype and horse race coverage was tamped down, the pre-show excitement over particular stars or films was relatively muted, and fewer voices on social media were bantering over the coming show. This had everything to do with the slate of films that were largely a mystery to most, as well as Hollywood becoming ensnared by its own virtue-shouting standards. 

This past November - when the awards season unofficially got ramped up - it was obvious which film was favored to take the most trophies. “Emilia Pérez” was far and away the movie of choice. It had all of the expected effusive praise from the proper circles, and it carried more than a whiff of compulsory adoration. The sales job was that you were supposed to love the film, and if you did not you were part of the problem. This film was tailor-made for Academy greatness in today’s culture.

In recent years the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences applied a new standard to motion pictures in order to qualify for a nomination. It created a set criteria in a number of employment categories that must be met in order for a title to be considered. This appears to have created the mindset in not just the hiring practices but also in the nomination process.

“Emilia Pérez” seems like it was created with this mandate in mind and Hollywood fell over itself to praise a film that not only was centered on a trans character but had a trans performer. This meant that power elites were going to be able to nominate a biological male in the Best Actress category, cover themselves in virtuous glory, and lord over the unwashed cultural idiots in America with their hyper-woke magnificence. It was, quite frankly, a scenario that was scripted right out of Hollywood.

The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival where it took the Jury Prize, and the female cast won in the Best Actress category. That was followed by a tour of the film festival circuit, drawing praise and building its awards credentials. Then came the flood of recognition. “Emilia Pérez" was chosen for 10 categories at the Golden Globes, up for 11 categories at the British BAFTAs, and was the darling at the Oscars with an amazing 13 nominations. The film was destined for cinematic history.

Then woke reality sank in.

First, audiences backed away from this film about a Mexican drug lord who goes through a redemption story by transitioning to a woman. Netflix purchased the rights to the film, and after a token theatrical release, it brought the film to streaming, where it was not exactly a darling of viewers. At the time it locked in the Oscar nominations the film did not crack the top-10 of most-watched titles.

If that storyline was not distancing enough, it is also a musical. Just behold this orchestral set piece centered around the vaginoplasty procedure.

bc a lot of people don’t seem to know where this clip is from:

this is from Emilia Perez, a French-Mexican musical about a cartel member who troons out. it just won four golden globes.

this is the song about his neo-vagina surgery. pic.twitter.com/jPXpxAcJao

— pagliacci the hated 🌝 (@Slatzism) January 6, 2025

But just as Hollywood was praising itself for the magnanimous nominations, trouble set in. There were rumblings from Mexican and other Spanish circles that the movie was culturally insensitive, with various characters clearly not Mexican and/or using dialects from other Hispanic cultures. The French director was criticized for describing the Spanish language as that of developing nations. Then the LGBTπ community came out to dismiss the film as harboring numerous gay and trans tropes as well as using the transitioning to become a means of moral cleansing of the lead character. “Emilia Perez” received zero nominations from the GLAAD Entertainment Awards.

Then there was the furor that swept around the star of the film, trans performer Karla Garcia Gascon. There were instances where Gascon reacted to criticism from within the community with anger and contempt. Then the practice of mining the social media accounts of Gascon took place, with a number of past comments said to be controversial that were regarding Black Lives Matter, Muslims, and even implying The Oscars were racist.

This controversy sucked up all of the pre-ceremony hype for the film, as interviews with the cast had to include them commenting on the co-star’s comments. Writer-director Jacques Audillard went so far as to fully disassociate from Gascon, saying those words were “hurting the crew and all [the] people who worked so incredibly hard on the film.”

What is so amazing to behold is that here was a movie that had been elevated by Hollywood, not out of an organic cultural wave, but from pure insistence that the movie be accepted and exalted. The Hollywood system manufactured the adoration for this film out of woke dependency and then watched as the film was torn apart by the same woke standards it adheres to. 

Related: Why Is 'Reagan' Movie Not Represented at the Oscars? Inane Woke Policy Makes It Ineligible

Just look at the perceived “crimes” assigned to the movie: cultural appropriation, nationalistic insensitivity, intolerant representations of the trans community, racism, and other cancel culture infractions. This film was a product of the social activist set, and it became unraveled by the very same activist standards. As a result, the film that was assured to be the Oscar darling mere months ago, sporting over a dozen nominations, only managed to earn a Supporting Actress trophy and a win for Best Song. It did not even win in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

What took place was the industry first demanded that this become a beloved film and then was forced to all but repudiate the very same title. What was expected to become a film of historic significance was turned into a cinematic pariah in mere months, and the Oscars have been reduced as a result. The ceremony was already facing the self-created challenge of drawing an audience that saw a French-made Mexican musical in Spanish about a transgender drug cartel leader, and then the backlash towards it made the show more of a forgettable event.

The Academy, with no surprise, turned its back on the Oscar darling “Emilia Pérez” and as a result the Best Picture ended up going to a film that was recognized by even fewer audience members. “Anora” took the top honors, as well as Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay, but we defy you to find many people who know about this film centered on a sex worker and her relationship with a Russian oligarch. The art-house darling has barely earned over $15 million at the box office.

This is the condition Hollywood has created for itself. After defying people to watch a ceremony celebrating a film they did not want, the few that did watch saw a film touted that they did not know about. In the end you have an industry that is facing a dangerous reality; they are not even offering up content that gets the public angry, but content that simply makes them not care any longer.